Tree composition and diversity of a hill dipterocarp forest after logging

Logging operations have been known to highly influence theenvironment of tropical rain forest. The present study investigated theeffect of supervised logging (SL) operations on tree composition anddiversity of a hill dipterocarp forest (HDF) in Ulu Muda Forest Reserve,Kedah, Peninsular Malaysia. To describe the tree composition anddiversity of the secondary HDF after SL, the compositional factors anddiversity were analyzed. A plot of size 1-ha was established. All treeswith diameter at breast height ≥ 1cm in 10 sub plots (50m × 20 m) wereenumerated, measured and identified. In the study site, we recorded 891individuals, belonging to 56 families, 158 genera, 296 species and onevariety. Ten families provided 55.7% of the total species composition.Euphorbiaceae has the highest number of species and was followedby Lauraceae, Rubiaceae, Annonaceae and Meliaceae. With regards torelative dominance, Diplospora malaccensis (Euphorbiaceae) gave thehighest importance value index for species and family, respectively.Shannon-Wiener’s index was high with a value of 5.3. Ulu Muda ForestReserve is high in endemism with a total of 27 endemic species recorded.Two rare species which are Symplocos calycodactylos and Alseodaphnegarciniicarpa and one very rare species, Cleistanthus major were foundhere. Diospyros argentea was also found to be a new record for Kedah.

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